Courage and Coincidence: Alphabet Series 5
by boaterV
Summary: Part of the "alphabet" series. Please read in order. ENJOY


Courage and Coincidence

3 months. Not a word from Sam. Nothing. Not an email, not a text and certainly not a call. Chloe was oddly comforted by the tiny beacon on her screen. For reasons she couldn't begin to guess the tracker on the Impala remained active. As long as the car kept moving she was certain they were still fighting. She wasn't sure why that mattered. She wasn't even sure what they fought. She had vague notions of evil things from nightmares but the truth was she had never asked. She told herself it was a courtesy. She didn't ask Sam and he didn't ask her. Now she wondered if it was because she was afraid. She knew Evil. Had looked it in the face, felt it control her body, watched it destroy her first love. Oh yes she and evil were on a first name basis and yet there was just something about the world Sam and Dean operated in that made her normal curiosity remain dormant.

Another month passed before her curiosity finally awoke from its slumber. As she switched off her computer she checked the beacon one last time. It had become routine. She refused to admit to herself why it was important that they were still out there fighting. She was getting very good at rationalizing.

Pontiac Illinois. Mentally she tried to figure out how far that was. 6 hours? Less? Refusing to acknowledge why she even cared she sat down in front of the TV and switched on the news.

"_Despite some scientists claims that global warming isn't a problem residents of Pontiac Illinois experienced another freak lighting storm. This is the third such storm in as many days and residents are being advised to remain indoors. Reports that the lighting had been concentrated over the local cemetery are being dismissed by local leaders as superstitious nonsense_."

Chloe stared at the screen. Coincidence? She just couldn't pretend not to see it anymore. Quickly switching off the screen she went back over to her trusted watchtower. Pulling up the tracking data for the Impala Chloe overlaid it with local news stories.

Within an hour a horrible thought had formed in the back of her mind. She spent the next two hours trying to prove her theory wrong only to sit in stunned silence as the evidence pilled up in favor of her unthinkable conclusion.

Story after story painted a picture she vaguely remembered from Sunday school. She picked up her cell to call Sam but she couldn't even say it out loud. It was too preposterous even for her. Instead she pulled up all the local motels and found the one the boys had checked into yesterday. Knowing their favorite aliases made things easy for her.

Taking a deep breath she called Clark again and asked for a "ride". He didn't even bother to ask why. Chloe sighed at how far they had come from the dynamic duo they had once been but now wasn't the time to play catch up. There would be plenty of time for that later, she hoped.

She easily picked the lock and let herself into their room. She had never been very good at waiting and today was no different. She paced and drank cup after cup of bad motel room coffee until her hands here shaking and her eyes were red. She was just about to go out and try and find them when she heard the rumble of the car. Not sure how they would react she waited.

Pushing open the door an exauhsted Dean stumbled into the room. To say he was shocked at what he saw would be an understatement.

Sam had told him he didn't have any further contact with her after their disasterous night on the town and he had believed him. And yet here she was. In their hotel room looking frazzled and tired. Her bottom lip red and raw from her teeth nervously chewing on it, her hands clasped tightly in front of her, knuckles white, trying to disguise the slight tremor.

"Tell me I'm wrong." Dean waited, unsure what she needed. "Tell me it isn't the end of the world."

He wanted to make a joke. Wanted to laugh off her accusation and tell her she was crazy but somehow he knew it wouldn't work. He was tired of the burden. Tired of being the only one who worried. So instead he nodded slowly and pulled out the desk chair motioning for her to sit.

"What do you know?" His voice was soft but it still held the steel edge of a command.

She started at Illchester and ended with the lighting storms. "It's really a biblical apocalypse?"

"Yeah, sorry to burst your bubble." Dean offered her a hollow smile.

"And god?"

"Doesn't care." his tone conveyed the bitterness he felt.

"Exists?" Dean nodded. Chloe slumped slightly as she took it all in. She was right. It was the end of the world. Suddenly her concerns about a red sun and Candorians seemed silly.

Sam just stared. She was so much more than he had given her credit for. Hacking was one thing but to put everything together? She was smart. Really smart and obviously made of some stern stuff if she didn't pretend to not see it.

"Can you stop it?" Her voiced trembled a bit as she looked up at the brothers.

Dean wanted to say yes. Ease her mind. A few months ago he would have answered without hesitation but now… He was tired. He just didn't have the strength to put on a brave face. Instead he just shrugged his shoulders.

"Okay, that was so not the cocksure answer I was looking for." Chloe rubbed her hands over her face and frowned. Now that she knew what was at stake she couldn't walk away. No matter how daunting the task seemed. She took a deep breath and jumped in. "I want in."

"This isn't the AV club." Dean was quick to answer. "Besides there is nothing you can do."

"Maybe you believe that. Maybe you don't, but you wouldn't have said anything if you didn't _want_ help." Sam noticed her shaking had stopped and her shoulders were straighter. He wasn't surprised to realize she was a fighter.

"What I _want_ princess, is one decent nights sleep." He moved towards the bed closest to the door and sat down. "But I don't see that happening anytime soon."

"Ok here's the deal. I'm smart. Not like Steven Hawking but not far off. I have unlimited resources. Stress on the _unlimited_. And now that I know what's going on I can't walk away. Notice I didn't say wont." She eyed each brother slowly. "You can make me leave but I will just go back and start working on this anyway, I would hate to waste what little time there is getting up to speed when I could use it helping you."

"Chloe this isn't your fight." Sam's voice held no conviction.

"Hmmm, if the world ends tomorrow I'm pretty sure it means no more Caramel Macchiato Lattes, that would be a problem for me. A HUGE problem. So you see why I can't just walk away."

And then she smiled. Bright and wide and Dean felt the air shift in the room. A glimmer. He felt something. He wans't sure what it was. Too afraid to call it hope. All he knew was that for a brief moment the soul crushing despair had lifted and he could take a deep breath without the pain. But then the moment was over. Not another death. He couldn't take another one. He was barely dealing now.

Dealing. That was a joke. He was suicidal. Not put a gun in your mouth and pull the trigger but he was thinking about saying yes. "Well good luck with that." he turned away from her. Fluffing the pillow and closing his eyes.

Chloe's smile faded and she realized just how far gone he was. How far they both were. She wished she knew what to say. Wished there was something she could do. Something that would snap them out of this funk. She got up slowly. She paused at the door and looked back at them, he heart broke. They were both so defeated. "If you don't fight who will?" She whispered the words as she walked out.

"I saw you; you were totally rocking the yes." Sam watched his brothers face for some hint as to what had changed.

"It was the damdest thing. I just didn't want to let you down."

"You didn't, you almost did, but you didn't." Sam smiled brightly. Yeah it was the end of the world and they had no idea how to stop it but they had hope. A tiny flame burned inside them again.

"I don't know if it's being a big brother or what, but to me, you've always been this snot-nosed kid that I've had to keep on the straight and narrow. I think we both know that's not you anymore. I mean, hell, if you're grown up enough to find faith in me, the least I can do is return the favor. So screw destiny right in the face. I say we take the fight to them and do it our way. "

**AN/ nothing I could come up with could top that moment when Dean's expression changed in the magic room with Zac, Sam and Adam so I wont even bother trying. Jensen is fantastic. **


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